We have been waiting and saving for a few years to go to Disney world. Our time finally came! We wanted Erik to be old enough to remember and enjoy the same rides as his siblings, though there was still one ride he couldn't go on. ( I had no idea that Rockin Roller Coaster at Hollywood Studios goes upside down!) Jason was happy to volunteer to stay off with him and visit Micky and Minnie instead.
We stayed in our pop up camper at the campground on the Disney world property. It was great, especially since we have AC in our camper! We were still able to get in the parks an hour early each day to beat the regular crowds because we stayed on site. I think the campground was one of the nicest we have ever stayed at. It's very big though, so people either have golf carts, bikes, or take the bus to get around. Lucky for us, we were across the street from the pool, tennis court, and just across from there was the fire pit location for the Chip and Dale nightly singalong and bonfire activity. Those were the only activities we had planned on participating in. There was also things like horse back riding, restaurants, and a nightly Disney movie shown under the stars.
We left Friday after school got out and drove down to Kentucky. The next day we drove to Atlanta and visited with our friends, the Strums. We arrived Sunday evening in the pouring rain, set up camp, and prepared for Animal Kingdom the next day. We had an app that told us which ride or show to go to next, that we had preselected, in order to keep wait times at a minimum. We had a little more walking that way, but it was worth it! I really liked Animal Kingdom! The animals, the rides, and the amazing shows we saw were fantastic! It was a harder day, though, just because we didn't know how to work the app properly at first and we were tired from traveling.
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| Exploring a rest area. |
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| Kaitlyn and Avery with my girls. |
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| Jason has been friends with the Strums for a very long time!! |
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| Teresa and I became very good friends at BYU and when they lived here. |
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| Our kids are all good friends now! |
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| Monkeys in the trees. |
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| Expedition Everest- the kids' favorite ride that day and one of the top favorties of all rides! |
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| Right before we went backwards, though we didn't know it was going to happen! |
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| We saw many animals on our safari, this ostrich was the closest. The safari allowed us to decide not to see the fake animals on the Jungle Cruise ride at Magic Kingdom. |
Tuesday we went to Hollywood Studios. It felt like I had traveled back to California! We sure enjoyed all the Star Wars attractions! The rides and shows were also, amazing, especially Fantasmic!
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| While we were on Rockin Roller Coaster... |
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| Our Rockin roller Coaster faces! |
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| Kylo Ren- Erik told him he has some evil in him... |
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| Good ol' Chewie! |
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| We witnessed a few of these marches. |
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| Austin finally got a pic with a storm trooper! |
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| We went for another round of Rockin Roller Coaster and Erik and Jason met Olaf. |
Wednesday was our day at the campground. We did laundry, swam, Jason and Austin played tennis, Jason went to the grocery store, Erik and I made a craft, and the kids participated in the activities at the pool (games, races, trivia, etc.) We got a little too much sun, but luckily the thunder storm kicked us out of the pool just in time! After dinner we roasted marshmallows and enjoyed a show with some campfire songs and Chip and Dale.
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| A turkey was hanging around the campsite. There were deer, bunnies, lizards, and squirrels too. |
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| Squirrel eating part of our pop tart that it stole right out of the bag! |
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| Jason and Austin playing tennis. |
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| Austin's little head going down the slide. |
Thursday was excellent because it was a little cooler and cloudy the entire day, but no rain. We went to Epcot which is a little less crowded and it was fabulous! Again, the shows and rides were outstanding and we loved visiting all the "countries" there and the aquarium. The fireworks show didn't disappoint!
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| Soda taste testing from around the world, for free! |
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| Manatee |
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| Dolphins |
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| The closest country represented from either of our ancestries was Norway. We ate lunch there and we got these huge sandwiches. All I could think about was how the Lunds would approve of the size of the sandwich! |
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| Jumping water fountain. |
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| Eiffel Tower in France. |
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| American representation |
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| China- one of Karissa's favorites! |
Friday was Magic Kingdom. It was the busiest and the most like Disneyland, so I knew mostly what to expect, though a few things were set up a little different, which threw me off. We got rained on pretty hard that day, but it cooled us down! Magic Kingdom is closest to the campground, so we took the bus to the boat and went across the water right to the entrance. After we were done that evening, we got off the boat and found a place on the beach to watch the fireworks. (Actually, Karissa and I took the bus back to the camper to get the ice cream sandwiches we had in our freezer to enjoy while watching the fire works.)
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| On the bus. |
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| Looks just like Disneyland here! |
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| Thunder Mountain! |
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| 7 Dwarfs Mine Train- I could have done without this line! |
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| Austin was chosen to be on Jack Sparrow's crew! |
We drove back in two days and I was so tired from the week of constant entertainment and walking that I was happy to just sit in the car the long 9 hours the first day. Every time we got out to stretch, I was ready to sit back down again in the car! And if you have seen my lifestyle, you know that I don't sit much at home, so that's about how much energy we put into our trip, but it was worth it!!
